real/imaginary details

Twice a week I have a Modern Politics class in the Student Athletic Building. This class is, perhaps, a bit misplaced as nothing could be less athletic than talking about modern political philosophers. Oh, except for for maybe doing deductive logic - which was another class I had in this building.

I always go to Modern Politics two hours early because, down the hall, there is a ballet class where a little man plays the piano for the ballerinas. Through the open door, I hear the piano and the shuffling ballet shoes, and it makes me so unspeakably happy. I spent four hours this week on a squishy couch outside their classroom, reading Kant, loving that I was a ballerina for Halloween, and wishing that I was a ballerina in real life.

photo by kirk

5:00 details

On Tuesdays at 5:00 I am registered to be in three classes:

1. Student Advisory Council
2. International Politics
3. and my Washington Seminar class.

On Thursdays at 5:00 I am registered to be in four classes:

1. Student Advisory Council
2. International Politics
3. my Washington Seminar class
4. and my Political Inquiry lab.

I am like Hermione Granger, but without the Time Turner, or Emma Watson's insane good looks.

joint (but not similar) details

This semester I'm not taking a single English class. And this summer when I realized I wasn’t going to be an English major anymore, that I was going to graduate, and leave academia behind, I was devastated. For weeks, I seriously considered going to get a Masters in Romantic British Literature just so I wouldn’t have to leave. But graduate school is kind of an expensive thing to do "just for fun." I eventually realized that even though I was graduating, I wouldn't stop learning. I would continue to read, and continue to surround myself with intelligent people. So this semester, in addition to my readings for Political Science classes, I've been reading Plato's Symposium and Carson McCullen's The Ballad of the Sad Cafe. Last night I read something in Sad Cafe that I liked almost as much I liked what I have been reading in 1 Corinthians.

First of all, love is a joint experience between two persons -- but the fact that it is a joint experience does not mean that it is a similar experience to the two people involved.

The beloved can also be of any description. The most outlandish people can be the stimulus for love. The beloved may be treacherous, greasy-headed, and given to evil habits. Yes, and the lover may see this as clearly as anyone else. But that does not affect the evolution of his love one wit. A most mediocre person can be the object of a love which is wild, extravagant, and beautiful as the poison lilies of the swamp. A good man may be the stimulus for a love both violent and debased, or a jabbering madman may bring about in the soul of the someone a tender and simple idyll. Therefore, the value and quality of any love is determined solely by the lover himself. It is for this reason that most of us would rather love than be loved. For the lover is forever trying to strip bare his beloved. The lover craves any possible relation with the beloved, even if this experience can cause him only pain.

natural details

The rain outside is crazy right now. I love that.
And I've decided that my favorite natural phenomenon is thunder.
My second favorite natural phenomenon is blushing.
Thunder doesn't happen very often,
but Hilary and Cary blush all the time. I love that.

wordless details

let yourself feel. from Esteban Diácono on Vimeo.

Amazing animation by Esteban Diacono, and how much do we absolutely adore the title, "Let Yourself Feel"? The music is by Olafur Arnalds. Obviously, the English major loves pretty words, and I have a soft spot for ingenious lyrics, but 9 out of my top 25 most played on iTunes are instrumental songs:

• Theme from Schindler's List - John Williams
• Stella's Theme - William Joseph
  
• Remember - from You've Got Mail
  
• The Secret Life of Daydreams - from Pride and Prejudice
  
• Sabrina Remembers/La Vie en Rose - from Sabrina
  
• Nocturne in C# Minor - Chopin
  
• Grant Me an Interview- from Sense and Sensibility
• Dawn - still Pride and Prejudice
  
• Stars and Butterflies - also from Pride and Prejudice
  

{via my favorite blog: swissmiss}

missing detail

Yesterday I had my first Coca Cola. It was a gift from Harrison, and it came in a glass bottle, imported from Mexico. The whole experience, I'm not even lying, was magical. Also, look at this analysis of Coca Cola's graphics.

non-creepy, non-awful, non-scary details

Anyone who has lived with me, or has been around me in "nature," already knows I'm afraid of any living thing with antenna, more than five legs, or flying abilities - and I'm not talking about any conventional kind of "fear" here. For example, one Sunday morning there was a spider in my bed, and I screamed like there was a crazy killer in my room, and frantically flipped over my king-size mattress, crying, sweating, and shaking, looking for what eventually came to be known as the Godfather Spider. When I did find him, my roommates had already left for church, and I couldn't squish him by myself. So I covered him with a cup and ran to the bathroom and threw up. That, my friends, is just one sad sad story. Similar stories can be told about ants and flies. But I'm trying to not let fear control my life... and in my attempts to be better I decided to make a list of bugs that don't fill me with anxiety. So here is a complete and accurate list of little crawly things I am not afraid of:

• those little rolly polly bugs
• ladybugs
  
• monarch butterflies
• grasshoppers

brief details

Dominic West reading the proposal scene from Pride and Prejudice makes me secretly wish I took coffee breaks. This is an absolutely genius advertising campaign. I've started thinking about what I can do with a 15 minute break: reading a poem, writing a thank you note, calling a friend, and, of course, listening to Dominic. Listening to him has made me reconsider the way I pronounce "incredulity." It has also made me consider using the word "incredulity."

p.s remember when I took an Austen class?

past details

In London, every Saturday night, me and Katie and Whitney and Page would walk down to Marks and Spencer's and get 510s. We don't remember what they were actually called, but these teeny cups of brownie and chocolate goodness had 510 calories - so that's what we called them. I love tradition. I love consistency. I love routine. And after two years of reflection, I've decided that those eight Saturday nights make up one of the best traditions of my life.

I tell you this because I just drove to Chilis and picked up a Molten Chocolate Whatever. Ladies and gentlemen, it was a 1270 - and it didn't even come close to filling the 510 void.